Reading, comprehension and writing
skills are the antidote to disinterest and delinquency, particularly among
immigrant youth. The Israel Literacy Initiative gives kids a running
chance by establishing active school libraries in schools with high
immigrant enrollment.

Reading is demonstrably the most powerful way to boost academic achievement. Working
within schools, JOIN-Literacy builds on school infrastructures to augment the
entire educational experience.

What We're Up Against

It's true, Israel leads the world in
start-ups per capita and has been wildly successful in science, technology,
medicine, and bio-tech research and development. Yet according to recent
studies, Israeli grade-school students lag far behind their counterparts in the
West, the Far East and even Eastern Europe, with international test scores
hovering in the bottom percentiles.

For Israel as a whole, this spells
social disaster. "By creating the largest education gaps in the Western
world, [Israel is] sowing the seeds today of high income gaps tomorrow,"
says Professor Dan Ben-David, executive director of the Taub Center for Social
Policy Studies in Israel, which conducts the annual studies.

For
immigrant children struggling to master both Hebrew and English as second and
third languages, the toll will be even greater. Weak language proficiency is a
strong risk factor for dropping out of school and delinquency, while reading is
a powerful predictor of academic success. Without an emphasis on reading and
quality school libraries, these children will fall even further behind.